A stent is typically a tubular member that is placed in a lumen in the body. The term “stent” throughout this disclosure includes, but is not limited to, stents and covered stents, ‘stent-grafts’ and other expandable, tubular frameworks.
Stents can be delivered inside a body lumen or vessel in a compacted or reduced-size form by a catheter. Upon reaching the site, the stent is expanded, for example, so that it can contact the walls of the lumen.
In some cases, the stent is formed of a material that can be reversibly compacted and expanded, e.g., elastically, through balloon expansion, or through a material phase transition. During introduction into the body, the stent is restrained in a compacted condition. Upon reaching the desired implantation site, the restraint is removed, for example, by retracting a restraining device such as an outer sheath, enabling the stent to self expand by its own internal restoring force.
In some instances the stent is crimped for catheter delivery. During crimping and placement on the catheter the stent can be damaged. The surface of the stent can be damaged or coatings can be damaged or scraped off.
There yet remains a need for a loading system which reduces contact between the stent and the equipment used in loading the endoprosthesis thereby reducing the risk of a stent coating being abraded and scraped which might lead to the production of embolic particles subsequently being deployed with the stent.
All US patents and applications and all other published documents mentioned anywhere in this disclosure are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Without limiting the scope of the invention a brief summary of the claimed embodiments of the invention is set forth below. Additional details of the summarized embodiments of the invention and/or additional embodiments of the invention can be found in the Detailed Description of the Invention below.
A brief abstract of the technical disclosure in the specification is provided as well for the purposes of complying with 37 C.F.R. 1.72.